Bleach: Fidelity
by Neonsneakers
Summary: AU: Aizen struck earlier than anticipated, but with a virus. Humans turning into hollows and more, the shinigami had no choice but to strike at the infected. Now it's war, between Aizen, humans and shinigami. And in this wasteland, who can you trust?


Bleach: Fidelity

Authors note: New fiction, a random idea in my head. AU and will be ichi/ruki with a smattering of tatsuki/oc and Karin/oc. People will die, don't flame me for who I kill!

Summary: Aizen made his move far earlier than anyone anticipated. Instead of making the espada, he made a virus… that turned humans into hollows… which he then manipulated with the breakdown sphere. Now it's all out war between humans, shinigami and hollows all on their own side.

Note: I'll explain the whole virus thing but a quick note on Aizen's ranking in his army; Hollows are your basic hollows, like the ones in the series. Next are the arrancar, humans who have been 'treated' by Aizen, gaining half masks in the process. Next are the vaizards, those who have obtained full masks, able to summon them at will. Next are the espada, those who have full masks and a resurrection form. And lastly you have the espada guard, Aizen's loyal ten…

And another thing… Rukia never met Ichigo…

_London: 2009, August 15__th__ 23:24, Trafalgar square._

Five figures roamed through the light drizzle, the darkness muting their shapes as they observed the rubble. A battle had taken place here earlier, the sharp smell of gunpowder in the air, along with the coppery tang of blood. This had been a famous place once, tourists from all over the world coming here to see the sights.

No more would tourists come here, to take happy reminders of a holiday. There were no more happy memories here. Only blood spilled on shattered ground.

The war had started quickly, spreading like wildfire all around the world. Nations fell, cities fell… there were only three countries in the world still safe from Aizen's long reach. Japan, base of operations for the human/shinigami alliance, America with the offensive spirit operations (OSA) and the only neutral country, a safe heaven for those that wanted out was Switzerland. But none of this mattered to the five. They had a job to do… as boring as it was…

"Remind why we're out here?" A voice whined through the dark air.

A dry chuckle answered him "Because the strawberry here was dumb enough to pull a prank on Grimmjow… and get caught"

"Whaaaat?" there was a pause "Then why the hell are we only pulling mop up?! I thought the kitty-cat would've gutted us fer sure!"

"He's got a soft spot for you, hasn't he strawberry?"

Said strawberry growled something along the lines of "Fuck off" at the only girl in the group.

"Now, now, watch yer language berry boy" A rough laugh came from the middle figure of the group, a brown haired young man, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. A long black trench coat, flapped around his ankles, an open white shirt, with a black t-shirt underneath and rough blue jeans adorned him. A perfectly normal young man… apart from the bone-white, porcelain looking half mask, adorning the top half of his face, giving him a reptilian like visage.

On his left a smaller boy, but looking nigh on identical apart from the snow-white hair, and his lower half of his face was covered by a half mask, giving him a snarling draconic muzzle. To the middle mans right, a young man, taller than him, with bright orange hair, wearing a red striped mask, covering the left hand side of his face, a grumpy frown could be seen on his exposed features. To the redheads right a girl, around his age stood, wearing battered jeans, a short black leather jacket and a short tank top, sporting spiky jet-black hair. Her half mask covered the right hand side of her face diagonally, exposing her nose but covering her right cheek. Brown eyes sparkled with hidden laughter at her friend's expense. And lastly, the giant of the group, a man of Mexican descent towered over them, his forehead covered by what almost looked like a medieval knights helm piece. Their names are Connor, Cane, Ichigo, Tatsuki and Chad.

"So you mean we pulled mop up because of you strawberry?" Connor said, sighing before face palming himself. "You're a bloody idiot" Sighing to himself he reached into a battered pocket and pulled out two cigarettes. He handed one to Cane and lit one himself, before lighting Cane's. The pair inhaled and exhaled in relief. "That's better"

Ichigo pulled a face at their bad habit, before resuming stalking over the rubble. "What happened here?" he asked, pulling a rifle from the rubble that was twisted and mangled. He threw it to Chad, who wordlessly caught it and placed it in the big sack he was carrying.

Connor paused in thought "The report said it was a clash between the OSA and a mixed division of shinigami. The 6th and the 13th. At least that's what Ichimaru said, the grinning little fox faced sneak"

"You don't trust him?" Tatsuki asked

Connor snorted "Trust someone who has tha' creepy ass smile plastered on his mug the whole bloody time? I don't fink so darlin" Another piece of salvage went in the bag. The smaller boy, Cane, walked alongside him, when his head snapped up. Running for his life in the rubble a human soldier darted for cover. Cane cocked his head to one side, made a pulling motion over his face with his right hand and his full mask sprang into visibility, completing the draconic visage. Raising one hand, a light blue cero charged, before releasing in a needle thing stream. It hit the man in the back. He stumbled once, walking to a halt, before pitching to the ground, a small pool of blood forming around his middle as he twitched feebly, before laying still. Cane looked languidly at the corpse for a moment, before resuming his half masked state, his eyes returning to their normal shade of blue. Connor glanced at him for a moment before they resumed their activities, Cane going back to smoking, whilst scanning the area.

For a few minutes, they did their task, methodically stripping corpses of anything of value, human and shinigami alike, and any trash from the battlefield that was remotely usable. It was a boring job, but somebody had to do it. Normally it would be a bunch of rookie arrancar, but they had got stuck with this job due to Ichigo's prank. Nobody complained though… it sure beat being in the barracks…

_Meanwhile…_

Rukia was in a sticky spot, quite figuratively. There had been a battle earlier between some humans and the mixed division she was in. They had just been doing a sweep as they had received Intel, that the area had been hot with rookie arrancar, doing training sweeps, and they ad wanted a few… well the 12th division had wanted some for 'analysing'. Still orders were orders. But they had been ambushed by a squad of OSA and it had been bloody to say the least. Minimal losses on her side, but the fact that they still lost some meant that the division was getting sloppy. No doubt her nii-sama would have words with her when she got back…

If she got back…

Especially considering the fact that there were five arrancar no more than a few yards away from her, with at least one of them vizaird level if not all of them. If they even suspected she was here, then she would be dead, very, very quickly. It was just her luck one human decided to be a hero and detonate a grenade in his hand, as she was about to step into the gate. She had shoved the shinigami behind her into the portal and had then dived for cover. The gate however had closed and there was no doubt in her mind, they wouldn't send anyone for a few more hours. Politics. It would as Renji had said to her 'be the death of her'.

There was a change in movement in the group of arrancar. Both the girl and cold young boy she had seen kill a human in cold blood earlier had paused, tensing like a pair of tracking dogs… oh this was not good at all…

"What is it?" The one that seemed to be in charge asked. The younger boy, the quiet one looked at him as he summoned his mask. It as if it was a signal, all of them ripping their masks into life. The girls had a feline look to it, like a tigress, the redhead had a grinning skull mask with red stripes, the giant had a knights helm that was horned, and the pair that looked similar had summoned nigh on identical draconic like masks, with the older boys being more avian in appearance with the younger's being more reptilian in look's. Their energy was heavy, dark and leaden with menace. It was nigh on suffocating in it's presence, dense and thick, close to smothering her with it's presence.

She gritted her teeth… she could outwait them. She was good at hiding her spirit energy, she could outwait them. "Come on out shinigami" the redhead, Ichigo called out. "We know you're here…"

Rukia shivered where she hunkered down, that voice had sent goose bumps down her spine and tingles all over her. A crunch nearby made her tense up, reaching for her sword. A foot was near her. She waited with bated breath. It moved away. "There's no point to this…" One said, the seemingly leader one.

"There is a point Connor" The one that had spoken, Ichigo, had shut Connor up quickly. "We are going to find her, or it won't be mop up we're assigned to next and we all agreed, we're not going back to the pits" There was a collective shiver amongst the group, Rukia could feel the tremble in their energy as Ichigo spoke. No, Connor wasn't the leader of this particular group, Ichigo was. She heard him whirl abruptly, before barking an order "Cane, your good with low level cero's, they're probably in the rubble. Destroy the cover and that means they can't hide" Cane didn't say anything, but she heard the thrum of a cero powering up. A building exploded to her left, and she flinched against her will. They were trying to smoke her out.

"Well Shinigami?" She heard the one called Connor call out, mocking her "It's only a matter of time ya know. It's either stand and die – (Another piece of cover nearby was shattered into dust) or be vaporised by my little brother!" There was silence for another beat as another thrum streaked nearby destroying the rest of a statue. "Well shinigami?"

"She's not coming out" The girl jeered, throwing her own cero in with Connor's brothers.

"Cat and mouse" The big one said, glancing at Ichigo. There was a nod in response from the redhead, who began charging his own cero. Soon three cero's tore the air, one red, one blue, and one green, smashing rubble into bits, slowly coming closer to where Rukia was hiding.

A cero tore through the piece of rubble to her right, no more than a few inches from where she was. She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. She danced with death on a regular basis, and sooner or later her luck was going to run out. If today however was the day her luck ran out, then she would go down fighting. Jumping up from the rubble, she span on the spot, rotating her sword ninety degrees, calling her release command as she did.

"Dance… sode no shirayuki!" Her sword became white, the white ribbon flowing out from the hilt fluttering around her in a breeze. The five arrancar looked at her, their faces unreadable beneath the masks, "First dance… WHITE MOON!" A white circle formed under the group of arrancar and they sprang back watching as the circle throbbed with power, before exploding into the sky, forming a pillar of ice. It was as if it were the starting gun for a race.

Connor's hand dived into his pocket, pulling out a handgun, firing shots in Rukia's direction as she dived back into cover, bullets spraying dirt around her. A cero thrummed above her position and she could hear steel ringing as swords were drawn. "Second dance…" She whispered… springing back up as she did "WHITE RIPPLE!" A wave of ice and snow shot from the tip of her blade, crashing into Tatsuki, who had been steadily advancing on her cover. She went flying back, landing with a thump in the rubble. She hadn't been frozen, she had only been clipped by the wave, but it was enough to send her flying and out for the count. More gunshots rang out, a cero missing her by a hairs breadth as she twisted, crashing back into some form of cover. There was a loud click in the sudden silence and she heard Connor curse in the still air. She stepped back up again and was crashed into by the ringleader… Ichigo…

His black sword grated against her white one, sparks flying in a battle of strength as they pushed in a deadly game. One that the arrancar would win. Whilst he was lean, he was whiplash lean, with the muscles to back it up. Sweat trickled down her fringe. "Give up" The arrancar hissed from behind his mask. "You're not going to win – "

"Way of destruction number 4! White lightning!" Ichigo danced backwards, dodging the kido spell as it shot past his side. With a buzz of sonido, he darted back in, clashing swords again with the petite shinigami. Connor had Tatsuki's head cradled in his lap, and his amber eyes were glaring daggers at Rukia as she crossed swords with Ichigo. Chad was holding a struggling Cane back, his amber eyes flashing with anger.

Ichigo felt the female shinigami's grip falter as he pushed down with his sword "Die shinigami" He hissed as her guard dropped leaving her stomach open. The tip of his sword swung inward, towards the exposed flesh…

"HOWL! ZABIMARU!" something crashed into him, sending him flying into the rubble. A light had opened up behind Rukia and she turned, knowing already who was there. Renji… He stepped out of the gate, eyeing her battered appearance, the five arrancar in front of her. "Looks like I got here in just the knick of time Rukia" he said slowly, holding his sword lightly over one shoulder. A white haroi fluttered behind him as he regarded the arrancar. The one cradling the girl had stood up, eyes burning in rage.

"You" The voice that came from beneath the mask was angry, angry. The small one had stopped struggling and just lay limp in the biggest ones arms, seemingly in shock… or fear. The other one, the one with the bird/dragon mask, stood, gently placing the girl on the ground, his fists clenched by his sides. A ring of steel was heard as he drew his sword, a crimson blade, decorated with the hilt as a dragon's head. "You… you'll pay for your sins shinigami. I haven't forgotten… nor will I forget," He hissed at Renji, advancing slowly.

Renji lowered his sword, bringing it up into the guard position. "I don't know you"

The arrancar, Connor snorted, "I doubt you would, but I know you…" There was a buzz of sonido and the two clashed.

Steel clashed and Renji easily pushed Connor back, "You can't beat me… I'm a captain"

"I know that… but I'm gonna fucking try!" With a roar, Connor clashed blades with Renji again, only stopping when he heard a very familiar voice call a command.

"Shoot 'em dead Shinso" Connor dived backwards, out of the path of the incoming sword, as it rammed into Renji's blade in a shower of sparks.

Forced backwards towards the open gate, where Rukia already stood, Renji gritted his teeth "Ichimaru" He said sliding to a halt as he evened the force out between the two blades. Said man just grinned even wider, red eyes showing slightly as his eyes opened a tiny amount.

"Abarai" He said, still smiling "Still fighting for the loosing team I see"

"You'd know all about that you traitor" Renji spat back, still struggling against shinso.

If it was even possible, Gin's smile grew even wider "You know so little about anything my narrow minded pineapple" There was a pause as Gin cocked his head to one side, regarding the pair of shinigami as if they were slides under a microscope. "I'm in a good mood today" He said, retracting Shinso Leave before I change my mind" Renji needed no other motivation, he knew he was out of his league, and quickly hustled Rukia into the waiting gate, the doors slamming shut on the retreating pair.

Ichigo shot up from the rubble, as the gate slammed, groaning as he did so "Fuck did anyone get the number on that bus…" His voice trailed off as he came face to face with Ichimaru Gin. "Oh shit," he said. The team, his team, had gathered in a loose semicircle behind him, Connor supporting Tatsuki, all of them had gone back to their half masked states.

Gin smiled "No, you're not in trouble"

"We're not going to the pits?" Chad said looking at Gin.

"No" He said bluntly red eyes regarding them carefully.

"But we… lost" Tatsuki said sourly, her voice trailing off miserably.

Gin cocked his head to one side "I don't see it like that. You came up against a captain, and someone of at least lieutenant level and survived, even fighting on near equal terms… I'm impressed"

There was silence in the little group, as they looked warily at the fox in front of them. What was he up too? "What do you need Ichimaru Taicho" Ichigo said finally, breaking the silence.

Gin smiled again "I've been watching you all ever since you gained your half-masks. Your natural born aren't you?" The five all nodded at his comment.

"We're all first wave" Connor said. "We all lived in the same area when the virus and the shinigami hit, and we banded together. Then… you found us"

"and in the nick of time too" Gin said. The five nodded, they'd been about to devolve into full hollow, when Gin had shown up and helped them get enough time to dominate their hollows and gain some semblance of control. Then he had brought them to Aizen who had made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Control over their inner demons, and power…

To hurt those who had wronged them. The shinigami.

"I want to train you. You're all close to the next level I can feel it."

"Resurrection" All 5 (4 as cane said nothing) in a near awed whisper.

"Yes, then you become part of the espada my little friends… and if you're lucky one of the guard may choose you as their fraccion" The five stood stunned by the turnabout of events. Gin moved off, walking through the rubble "Well kids?" he asked "coming or not?"

The five scrambled after him in the midnight dark as two figures watched from a fresh gate. The red head looked at the black haired shinigami beside him "They know something being this close to Ichimaru" There was a nod. "We need to tell the other captains"

The gate closed in the night air, leaving the birds to their feast of carrion and battlefield flesh…

Thanks for reading, some constructive reviews will be nice.

Next chapter: Some more background on the war, meet the underground and we pay a visit to soul society.


End file.
